In the field of interior decorating, it is common practice to utilize a window treatment wherein a vertically pleated drapery is gathered to one side and held at its midportion by a flexible sash or tieback to create a decorative swag effect. Frequently the arrangement includes an underlying sheer curtain which is allowed to hang straight downwardly from the curtain rod to cover the window, thereby affording both privacy and a pleasing area. In effecting this treatment, however, the decorator may encounter certain aesthetic and practical difficulties. In a typical tieback arrangement, one end of the sash is fastened to a tieback knob or bracket by a hook or other means, then the sash is drawn around the drapery and similarly fastened at its opposite end to the knob. Frequently, the return folds or pleats are crushed by the sash, and the drapery is flattened against the wall, thus detracting from the appearance of the arrangement and often causing excessive and uneven wear on the underside or lining of the curtain. Moreover, the resulting distortion of the outer drapery interferes with the uniform vertical hang and operation of the inner sheer as well.
Improvements in tieback brackets and fastening devices have been proposed in the past to eliminate the aforesaid problems. Representative of these are U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,420,289 to A. V. Bejarano; 3,866,659 to F. Kaminski; and 4,022,415 to Z. A. Roderick et al. All of these patents are directed to sash-retaining brackets and holders which project outwardly from the wall and are concealed within a pleat of the drapery so that both drapery and sash are supported in spaced relation to the wall and the proper shape of the return folds is maintained. Although devices of this type are effective for certain arrangements, their applications are somewhat limited in that they require special mounting directly to the wall and do not permit much latitude in aesthetic expression, such as, in the ability to use different types of tieback knobs to achieve special decorative effects, or the ability to easily adjust the distance the curtain is held from the wall to allow for different fabric weights and pleat or return depth.